It’s the NHL pre-season, so while a lot of the focus (and rightly so) is on the ice, there’s still plenty going on off the frozen surface as teams prepare for the grind of the regular season.
That being said, while the New Jersey Devils hosted the New York Islanders at Prudential Center Tuesday night for their second game of the pre-season, by the way, New Jersey won 6-2, there’s more going on than just goals being scored.
While Luke Hughes’ contract dispute continues to hang over New Jersey’s head, Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt are back healthy and the franchise is making a concerted effort to improve its fan-related services. Chief among those is the food served at Prudential Center.
Prior to Tuesday’s game, in partnership with Levy Restaurants, the Devils unveiled several new menu items that were quite savory. Their win over the Islanders made the food taste even better.
For starters, yours truly enjoyed their new pulled pork dishes, which Executive Chef Aron Zaks said were, “It is my favorite thing on our whole menu. I love the pulled pork nachos.” The pulled pork sandwich is quite good, too.
“I think the most New Jersey thing on the menu right now is the grilled cheese and tomato soup,” Chef Aron continued. “It’s a Campbell’s product. We partnered with Campbell’s and they made a special recipe just for us. They’re a Jersey company. They love us and we love them.”
If the first two pre-season games are any clue, Devils fans will love the grilled cheese and tomato as much as they’re loving highly-touted right-wing prospect Arseny Gritsyuk, who played in his second exhibition tilt on Tuesday. After recording a goal and an assist against the Rangers on Sunday, Gritsyuk saw 14:06 of ice time (1:20 on the power-play) against the Isles, putting up two shots on goal and mostly playing a bottom-six role. The offensive instincts were still quite clear and if this was a preview of how he’ll be deployed during the regular season, then New Jersey should be quite happy with his performance.
Of course, Jack Hughes being back and healthy is huge for the Devils’ chances this year. After requiring season-ending shoulder surgery each of the last two seasons, Hughes saw 15:55 of ice time (1:28 on the power-play) against the Islanders and recorded two assists and two shots on goal. His performance was as sweet as the chocolate-covered Rice Krispies treats that New Jersey is rolling out this season.
“In terms of New Jersey, in terms of our fans and in terms of the energy of this arena, food and beverage is supposed to be fun,” Dana Seiden, SVP, Business Operations, NJD and Prudential Center. “This is sports, this is entertainment. So I think we did a really nice job this off-season, listening to our fans, hearing what they wanted, what they wanted to see done differently and making sure that the food itself and whether that is with creative dessert options or garlic knots in a souvenir helmet, making sure that we are bringing the fun to match the energy in the arena.”
Speaking of “fun,” Jacob Markstrom certainly enjoyed himself, playing just the first period of Tuesday’s game, his first game action since his second son was born on September 19th. In his roughly 20 minutes of ice time, Markstrom faced just three shots on goal and saved two of them. The one goal he allowed was on an Islanders’ power-play.
After yielding the crease to Georgi Romanov to start the second period, Markstrom could have chosen to go try out the new kid’s meal the Devils are rolling out at Prudential Center. After all, SVP Dana Seiden said, “I am very excited about the kids’ meal. I’ve got two toddlers at home. Bringing them to a game, I fully understand how difficult it can be to feed young kids or a family at a game. And I think having it in this adorable (mini) Zamboni, with options for them to eat, is going to make that a lot easier for a lot of parents.”
“It comes with a hot dog and goldfish,” Seiden continued. “Campbell’s is a partner of ours, so we’re happy to represent them there, as well as a cup with soda or juice, all in the shape of a Zamboni.”
The Devils and their fans will also be very happy with their new garlic knots, which, through the first 15:56 of the game against the Islanders, were the same shape as the number of shots the Nassau County sextet had put on New Jersey’s goal, zero. A tasty reminder of what New Jersey can do defensively.
Now that we’ve given you all the reasons you could want to try New Jersey’s new food options (there’s more than just what we detailed), let’s get back to the game.
The Isles’ Emil Heineman was called for tripping New Jersey’s Evgenii Dadonov at 11:47 of the first period. Marc Gatcomb was also sent to the box for tripping at 13:39, giving the Devils a brief, eight-second, five-on-three power-play. Then, five seconds after Heineman was released from the box, Dougie Hamilton wired a blast from the top of the left face-off circle past Marcus Hogberg to give the Devils a 1-0 lead.
Heineman returned the favor 2:04 later when his shot trickled through Jacob Markstrom (The Isles’ first shot of the game) and into the net for his own power-play goal (Jonas Siegenthaler was in the box for holding Liam Foudy), tying the game 1-1 with 4:04 left in the first period.
At the end of the first period, the Devils, who were dressing most of what will likely be their Opening Night lineup, were outshooting the minor-league heavy Islanders, 15-3.
Georgi Romanov replaced Jacob Markstrom to start the second period and made 11 saves on 12 shots faced through the second and third periods.
New Jersey went to the power-play 28 seconds into the second period when Adam Beckman tripped Nico Hischier. The Devils’ Captain promptly got his revenge, firing the puck past Hogberg, from the bottom of the right face-off circle, 16 seconds into the man-advantage to give the home team a 2-1 lead.
Then, 9:31 into the middle period, Connor Brown joined in on the fun, scoring his first goal of the pre-season and first in a Devils’ sweater. He was quickly followed by Dawson Mercer, who scored his own goal 1:08 later, giving the Devils a 4-1 lead.
(Tristan Lennox replaced Hogberg moments before Mercer’s goal).
The Devils carried their 4-1 lead into the third period and then, 4:52 into the period, Ethan Edwards’ shot just squeaked over the goal line to give New Jersey its fifth goal of the game. Then, at 6:27 of the third period, Calle Odelius was called for high-sticking Jesper Bratt. Just 27 seconds into the man-advantage, Evgenii Dadonov joined the goal-scoring party, cleaning up the loose rebound and giving the Devils a 6-1 lead.
A shade under three minutes after Dadonov’s goal, Timo Meier was sent to the box for holding Julien Gauthier and on the Islanders’ ensuing power-play, Calum Richie scored to bring the visitors within 6-2.
The Devils held down the fort from there and earned their first win of the pre-season, 6-2. Over their first two games, New Jersey has been fueled by its special teams, going 5-for-10 on the power-play (50%) and five-for-seven on the penalty-kill (71.43%).
After the game, Devils’ Head Coach Sheldon Keefe said, “It’s been encouraging (the Devils’ performance on the power-play). We obviously have high expectations for it. It was a huge weapon for us last season. I do think there’s potential for us, just with the players that we have and the added depth, we throw ‘Grits’ (Arseny Gritsyuk) in that mix and see what (Brian) Halonen can do. I just think we have greater depth for two units, be able to mix and match some guys if we go cold for a little bit. But we had as good a power-play as there was in The NHL last season and I think there’s potential there, as I said, to be even better than we were last year.”
An “even better” power-play and tastier food, looks like all signs are pointing up for the New Jersey Devils as they prepare for the regular season to begin.
